The people who want bitcoin and similar currencies to be regulated by
the New York state authorities which regulate financial activities in
that state are going to get their wish. It seems like they are "really
asking for it," judging by what has been issued by the regulatory
authority there. Or, to paraphrase a famous Beatles song, "You say you
wanna regulation? Well, you know, we'd all love to see the plan."

Fair warning: that is the New York state government's web site, and
it may want to run scripts through your browser to do all kinds of
things you don't want. If you don't have something like "no-scripts"
installed to your browser, you might want to review that choice.

In my career over the last few decades, I've worked in industries
such as real estate development, port development, finance, accounting,
management, consulting, and within information systems: software
development, software documentation, custodianship of records for a
healthcare enterprise, and digital currency systems. Naturally, I've
encountered laws for these industries, been expected to have familiarity
with these laws, and in some instances been expected to critique
proposed laws and regulations on behalf of the enterprises I worked
with. I've seen a lot of laws, and I've seen very few that come close
to being as bad as the proposed regulations from the state of New York.

For example, and it seems trivial in some ways, but noteworthy in
others, the proposed regulations are intended, quite clearly, from their
timing among many other factors, to regulate Bitcoin activities in the
state of New York. These regulations have been developed in order to
establish regulatory control and authority over businesses that deal in
the buying and selling of bitcoin. Discussions of these regulations
dating back many months have indicated that bitcoin regulation was
coming, that it was to be included in these regulations, and that people
should sit up and pay heed if they were engaged in dealing in bitcoin.
Not only has all the publicity and discussion of these regulations been
about the bitcoin phenomenon, but also the regulations themselves, on
page 35, refer to timing of virtual currency events being recorded on a
"'block chain' ledger."

So, you would think, as a diligent and responsible consumer of legal
documents, that the term "block chain" would appear in the definitions
of the law in question. They use the term, they should explain what it
means, don't you think? But the definitions pages, starting on page 4,
beginning with Section 200.2 Definitions, includes (a) Affiliate and (b)
Cyber Security Event, and proceeds alphabetically throughout, and does
not include the term "block chain." So, when you get to page 35, if you
don't know what a "block chain" is, you are out of luck. Turning back
to page 4 isn't going to help. The definitions page makes no mention of
bitcoin, either. There is no mention of blockchain-type virtual
currencies in the definitions, nor anywhere else in the law, except
suddenly on page 35, the timing of certain economic events is supposed
to be recorded on this block chain ledger. Whee.

Yes, that is trivial. It is possible for a reasonable person to go
out in the wild, connect to the Internet, and find definitions for block
chain and lengthy, even academic, peer-reviewed discussions of block
chain virtual currencies. But, in terms of law, things that aren't
defined in the law shouldn't be included in the law. Unless, of course,
you are promulgating bad law.

Now, from the perspective of freedom-loving, individualist,
anarchistic persons, such as myself, people who have no reason to
respect the concept of government, there are a lot of things wrong with
this law that I wish to mention. The law talks very actively about the
importance of money-laundering, especially the prevention of money
laundering. Section 200.15 "Anti-money laundering program" runs to four
pages, beginning on page 25 of the document. I should certainly take a
moment to note that Section 200.2 never defines money laundering.
Enormous costs for each licence holder are indicated in this anti-money
laundering programme, alone. Enormous invasions of customer privacy and
a clear requirement that the licencee spy upon all of its customers are
indicated. The business costs and the violations of civil liberties
indicated ought to be enough to give anyone pause, but nobody in the New
York state department of financial services makes any effort even to
define money laundering, let alone justify these regulations.

In fact, money is money, whether it is used for buying a bottle of
wine, a bottle of water, or a bottle-rocket. Money isn't tainted by its
contact with the merchant selling the wine, even though such sales are
illegal in a great many nations where Islamic laws, and in many USA
jurisdictions where Baptist and other religious convictions make the
sale or purchase of alcohol illegal.

But, you say, in my musing mind, "What about the war on drugs?" And I
reply, you mean, the war on individual liberty developed in the early
20th Century through a series of international treaties on "narcotics
trafficking" which were created by racists, Progressive movement
politicians, and diplomats determined to force their will on the entire
world's population? You mean the policies which result in millions of
arrests in the United States, each year, for the non-violent acts of
owning, possessing, buying, selling, or using "illegal" narcotics? You
mean the policies which deny and disparage the Biblical command by God
to "behold!" that He has given mankind every herb bearing seed and every
tree bearing fruit to be as meat (Genesis 1:29)? You mean the racist
policies of discrimination, authoritarian control, and police brutality
which are a direct subsidy to the military supply contractors, the
prison industries, and the surveillance industries? You mean the
unconstitutional policies that invoke "civil asset forfeiture" based on
admiralty law to seize private property without trial and hold it until
the erstwhile owners prove that it was not used in criminal activities?
You mean the policies that result in tens of thousands of deaths each
year in overdoses and gun fights over criminal turf and in fights with
police because the racists who control the governments of the United
States and its several states don't think people should be free to put
"drugs" in their bodies without permission from the state, or a licensed
doctor?

You can't regulate Bitcoin. Show me a bitcoin. Does a bitcoin even care about regulation? Does it care about anything at all?

Look at the thing and see it for what it is (the regulation). Regulation never regulates anything except people.

Government people will tell you that regulation is people regulating themselves through Government. This is a BIG FAT LIE. Regulation is REALLY Government people regulating everybody else. It is regulation of the many by the few.

Even if you LIKE Bitcoin regulation, think of how many things you DON'T want regulated that Government regulates YOU in. See it for what it is: